Tuesday, February 9, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.

The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google.

The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the expense of an elaborate espionage operation.

Prior to starting ComSec LLC in 2007, Mr. LeaSure was active within the counterespionage, counterterrorism and TSCM fields for 26 years. He has attained the prestigious CCISM, Certified Counterespionage Information Security Management Certification. He also has extensive training, knowledge and experience in the identification of eavesdropping devices, espionage detection methods and the intelligence collection tactics most often employed by perpetrators of electronic espionage.

J.D. LeaSure is also the Director of the Espionage Research Institute International (ERII). As Director, he is tasked with ensuring the organization is successful in its mission to provide continuing education, facilitate professional relationship building and ensure the counterespionage & counterintelligence skill sets of its membership remains current as espionage tactics and devices evolve.